


The Roundabout Approach to Some Happiness (he/him pronoun edition)

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Genocide Route Hinted, Humor, Mild Language, Post-Pacifist Route, Racism, Slice of Life, pronouns swapped reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 13:32:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7317253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You are just a normal, doofy college kid, trying to get through his classes. But yeah, monsters are a thing now as of a few months ago. Not that it has really impacted your life much, loner that you are. Until something happens that forces you to start caring about a certain two skeleton brothers. What will happen to your quiet life when your impulsive nature makes you do something somewhat rash? How will your new skeleton friends deal with being on the wrong side of the law in a town that generally does not look favorably on its monster citizens? Well...don't look at me! I'm not going to tell you! There would be no point in reading this story then, right? No spoilers! Well...besides the few kinda hints in this...anyway...just go read the story. It's complete trash.<br/>(This work was originally done by the lovely lywellen, and with their permission is being tweaked for the reader to have he/him pronouns)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lywellen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lywellen/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Roundabout Approach to Some Happiness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5712823) by [lywellen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lywellen/pseuds/lywellen). 



> This work was originally written with she/her pronouns, and the author lywellen was extremely kind to let me make another version with the pronouns changed!
> 
> The original fic can be found right here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5712823/chapters/13161007

     Class ran late. Again. You sigh as you push through the swinging glass door and are greeted by a chilly gust. You pull your long coat tighter around you as the frigid winter air bites at your exposed nose and ears. You see your breath puff out in a cloudy sigh and your shoes crunch through the frost-covered grass as you make your way to your beat-up old hoopty. Hey, at least she still gets you where you need to go. Most of the time. Sort of.

     You check your watch. 7:30PM. Well, that gives you at least some time to get groceries before you go home, study, make dinner, eat said dinner, and climb into bed. Just to get up early for your 8 AM class. Again. Same general thing every day. For at least 2 more years until you get your degree. Ah well. At least you have the day off work for the next two days. You tug at your car door to get it to release its frosty hold on the side of the car, climb in while being careful to tuck your coat around you, and close the door. You turn the ignition and crank the heat, shivering as you are met with yet another blast of cold air but this time from the car vents. The car will probably not start to warm up until you pull into the Food Camel parking lot.

     As you pull into the grocery store parking lot, your car vents just starting to blow out lukewarm air, you notice a group of guys crowding and jeering at something just to the side of the store entrance. Others stand by their cars watching the commotion while yet others skirt around the group, quickly making their way into the store. Getting out and locking your car, one of the leering guys in the group who is holding a beer bottle staggers to the side enough for you to see the focus of their group…a lone, scared looking monster. Well crap.

     Since the monsters had made their way to the surface a few months ago, things hadn’t been exactly easy for them. People being what they are, when faced with something new, they did what people do best when they don’t understand something: they reacted with fear and sometimes violence. Not everyone, though, but most others would not stick their necks out and put themselves in danger to risk helping strangers. Especially, it seems, strangers of a different species.

     Though the whole thing makes you sick to your stomach (especially since you had had your fair share of bullying growing up), you know there is likely little a small, awkward guy like you can do against 4 rowdy, obviously drunk dudes. Aren’t college-age kids like you supposed to be more open-minded? There are at least 3 monsters in your major (not that you are counting), and for the most part, everyone gets along just fine.

     You scowl as you start to scoot your way around the group but stop suddenly when the struggling monster makes teary eye contact with you, seemingly pleading for help. The monster, you notice, is a tall skeleton. As in, a fully animated science lab variety. He is wearing what looks to be a sort of superhero-armored costume, complete with flowing red scarf. He is being hoisted up by said scarf wrapped completely around his neck by one of the guys while another guy has his legs. The skeleton is making sad little choking sounds as he tries to struggle away while vainly clawing at his scarf with trembling, gloved hands. He isn’t even trying to fight back! Double crap.

     Before your mind can catch up with what you are about to do, you roughly grab the guy who is holding the skeleton’s legs and pull him backwards sharply (luckily his drunkenness and your surprise attack leaves him off balance and he drops the skeleton’s legs as he falls). You roughly shove the other startled guy holding the skeleton’s scarf into the brick wall of the store and thankfully, he lets go too as he tries to brace himself against the impact.

     “Wha..what the HELL are you guys doing?” you yell/stutter, as the guys look at you shocked. Hell, you are pretty shocked at yourself but hope against hope that they don’t notice your sudden panic as you keep your intimidating (maybe?) frown in place. Well, as intimidating as you can manage. The skeleton has collapsed to the ground, wheezing. One hand is rubbing his neck shakily and he is staring at you with wide eyes (well, giant sockets?).

     One of the guys standing off to the side, some Jersey Shore looking douche with frosted, spiky hair, sneers, laughing, “Whaaat, us? We were just gonna throw this thing in the truck. Gonna bring it back to the graveyard where it belongs and bury it. Can’t have the dead walking all around town now, can we?”

     One of the other guys who had been laughing while drinking from his beer bottle, slurs and laughs again as he puts a rough hand on your shoulder, “Oh come ooon, baby. Don’t tell me you’re one of them monster fuckers. Pretty thing like you deserves a real man like….AAARGH!” you cut him off with a swift, angry kick to the crotch as he crumples to the ground in pain. The spiky haired guy about doubles over in laughter. The other two (including the one you had previously toppled who has just made it to his feet again), make to grab you. Welp. That was a bit of a miscalculation.

     Just as you are bracing yourself for your attackers, all four are suddenly thrown backwards, landing on their butts a few feet away. You look back in shock to see the skeleton, still kneeling with his left hand planted on the ground, has his right hand raised in the air with a slight orange haze around it. His right eye socket now has a glowing orange iris. The four thrown guys struggle to their feet, exchanging shocked looks as you hear a woman scream to the right. You look over and noticed she is staring wide-eyed at the skeleton with her phone pressed to her face, speaking quickly. Triple crap, she is calling the police! You’re sure the law is not favorable in their treatment of monsters, especially monsters that use their magic against humans. Especially in your hick town. Thinking quickly and yet not thinking thoroughly (he could probably throw you around with his magic too, after all), you grab the skeleton by his wrist, yanking him to his feet. He looks at you startled, the orange disappearing from his socket. You notice he is surprisingly light. Though he is just a skeleton, you suppose.

     “Come on! We’ve got to get out of here!” you yell.

     “WH…WHERE ARE WE GOING, HUMAN?” he cries back.

     “Someone called the cops,” you hiss as you tug him after you.

     He noticeably pales (which is really weird, considering the whole skeleton thing) and he runs after you, as you keep your hold on his wrist. The other people luckily keep their distance or stumble out of your way (including the original attackers), probably scared after seeing his magic.

     You quickly unlock your car and let the skeleton in and he buckles up just as you kick your car into reverse and peel out of the parking lot. You slow down as you reach the road, checking your rearview mirror for police as you merge into traffic. But, luckily, no one came. You relax as you put some distance between you and the Food Camel. You glance over at your passenger, noticing how quiet he has been for the last few minutes. He is frowning (well, his eye sockets are anyway, his mouth seems to be set in a permanent skeletal grin) at his gloved hands twisting in his lap. He looks like he is about to cry again. You notice he is rather expressive for someone without skin and muscles.

     “Hey,” you say, as he jumps a bit, startled by the broken silence. “Are you ok?”

     He nods, but looks at you uncertainly, the reality of the situation seemingly dawning on him. A strange human, suddenly dragging him into her car and driving off. You’re guessing his experiences with humans haven’t made them seem that trustworthy, especially after tonight. You sigh, probably for the tenth time tonight. “Look, I’m not going to hurt you. Promise. What’s your name?”

     “Papyrus,” he answers, somewhat loudly but not screaming. Then, “ARE…ARE YOU TAKING ME TO THE HUMAN GUARDS?”

     You flinch a bit at the sudden increase in volume, and say, “What? Human guards…the police? No! NO! Didn’t we just run from that situation? I’ll take you home…or wherever you want to go. Do you have somewhere you can go?”

     The skeleton, Papyrus, looks at you with giant, sparkly eyes (well, sparkly eye sockets anyway) and tells you his address (well, more like shouts it. You’re starting to wonder if he has a quiet mode for his voice). It seems he lives just a few blocks away from the Food Camel, with his brother Sans, who works at some monster bar when he isn’t lazing about, and his brother wouldn’t be home until late, and they are almost out of spaghetti noodles, and he, The Great Papyrus who is grown and doesn’t need a chaperone, had taken a bus to the store, for the first time. He tells/shouts this all to you, jabbering non-stop excitedly as you soon pull into the sketchy apartment complex where he lives and park in front of his building. He did ask your name at one point, which you gave him, though he still insists on calling you HUMAN the whole way.

     Papyrus smiles at you and shouts a thanks, starts to reach for the door, but then hesitates, looking nervously at the dark windows at what you assume is his apartment on the second floor. He also doesn’t seem too thrilled about the grubby looking guy in a greasy wife-beater smoking on the steps. Hm. Looks like both grocery shopping and studying may have to wait for tonight.

     “Papyrus,” you say gently. “Do you want me to keep you company while you wait for your brother to get home?” He grins widely (well more widely anyway) and the sparkles make an appearance in his eye sockets again. Looks like a yes. You smile back as you both make your way out of your car, making sure you grab your bag and lock the doors.

     The man sneers as you all walk past, as he mumbles something about “god damn abominations,” and coughs at you two. Rude. Papyrus says nothing. You fight the inclination to kick the grubby, prejudice bastard in the head on your way up the stairs. You really need to reign in your temper and work on impulse-control. It has gotten you in trouble more than once. Even tonight. Especially since you aren’t exactly that tough. Or talented. Or threatening. Or any of those strong sounding things that began with the letter “T”. Most of the time, timid fit you better. If it weren’t for Papyrus…wait a minute…

     Papyrus quickly unlocks the door to his apartment, and invites you to come inside. You step in and as he closes the door, you whirl around, your arms crossed, and ask him, “Ok. So you can obviously use magic. You used it to stop those guys from hurting me, which I thank you by the way. Why didn’t you use it to save yourself before I intervened?”

     Papyrus cringes as he clicks the lock in place, then faces you, while scratching the side of his skull. “WELL…HUMAN…WE AREN’T SUPPOSED TO USE MAGIC IN FRONT OF HUMANS. SO I TRY NOT TO. USUALLY GUYS LIKE THAT GET BORED EVENTUALLY. BESIDES…IT’S BETTER TO TRY TO MAKE FRIENDS THAN ENEMIES! AND I’M PRETTY TOUGH EVEN WITHOUT MAGIC ANYWAY AS YOU CAN SEE! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AFTER ALL! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!” He grins and strikes a dramatic pose. You suppress a laugh but manage to smile at his antics. “BUT…I COULDN’T LET THEM HURT…MY NEW FRIEND? WHO, THOUGH TOUGH, DOES NOT SEEM TO BE AS STRONG AS ME?”

     He looks at you uncertainly, again starting to twist his hands together at he end of his scarf. New friend, huh? He sure seems to be overly quick to trust people. And too honest. Maybe a tad desperate for friendship? Honestly, his honesty is…refreshing. You aren’t one to make friends quickly, but you find yourself relating to his awkward dorkiness. Oddly enough, you would not mind being friends with Papyrus.

     He seems to be waiting for some kind of answer, so you smile again and nod your head, patting his armored shoulder. “Friends,” you affirm, chuckling at the sudden orange blush (he could blush?) and look of delight that lights up his face before he surprises you by making a lunge for you. You yelp as he scoops you off of your feet into a tight hug. Ok, he is definitely stronger than he looks! He quickly puts you down, screams something about “FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI,” and rushes off to the kitchen leaving you in your amused shock momentarily before curiosity gets the best of you and you decide to take in your surroundings.

     Their apartment is…not the best. You notice an ugly water stain just over the small den with one beat up couch and one of those old style box TVs. To the left is a tiny kitchen that can barely fit one person along with a small refrigerator that makes a constant squeaky motor noise, a small oven with uneven coils, and a sink that is dripping water. The whole place smells kind of like mildew though seems to be kept tidy, save for a sock in the corner of the room with a bunch of post-it-notes stuck to it. Two doors cram the back wall recessed a few feet behind the TV. You figure they share a bedroom and a bathroom. You worry for your clearly innocent new friend and wonder about the life they lead. You wonder if Sans is just as sweet and innocent as his brother.

     “Need any help in there?” you call, peeking around the corner, starting to feel a little guilty you aren’t helping with dinner. Your new skeleton friend takes two tupperware containers out of the fridge to dump what looks like spaghetti swimming in sauce into a waiting pot sitting askew on the uneven cooking coils.

     “NOPE!” he cheerily calls back, narrowing his eye sockets in concentration as he cranks the heating coils under the pot as high as they will go. He then grabs a wooden spoon and starts madly stirring the mixture, sloshing sauce all over the stove, the now hissing coils, and a little on the floor. Well, whatever. It is his house, and you don’t want to hurt his feelings.

     “HUMAN!” he says, quickly turning to you, spoon in hand, just barely missing you with spaghetti and sauce splatter as you hop to dodge it, “I WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME WITH THOSE INEBRIATED…PRANKSTERS EARLIER.” He squints his eye sockets again, as he turns back to start stirring his concoction, “I’M ACTUALLY HAPPY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED. BECAUSE IT MEANS I GOT TO MEET ANOTHER NICE HUMAN AND NOW HAVE ANOTHER NEW FRIEND! AFTER YOU TRY MY AMAZING FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI WHILE WE WATCH THE HUMAN TELEVISION, I WILL SHOW YOU MY AWESOME ACTION FIGURES! AND PUZZLES! YOU ARE LUCKY TO BECOME FRIENDS WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS! BE PREPARED TO BE AMAZED!”

     He smiles brightly at you again as he stirs and sloshes more sauce over the side of the pot. Hm. You never in your wildest dreams would have ever imagined finding a skeleton adorable. You return his smile as he pours the now slightly charred spaghetti mixture into two bowls and motions with his skull towards the den. You take a seat on the lumpy couch and sink in a bit as Papyrus sits down beside you and hands you a bowl. Shifting to get comfortable, Papyrus turns on the TV, and as you tune in to what is playing…your blood suddenly runs cold.

     On the TV, a beautiful anchorwoman is interviewing one of the 4 jerks that you had encountered almost an hour ago. “LIVE” flashes across the screen as you see police lights flashing in the Food Camel window in the background and the jerk recounts the “horrors” of the “demon skeleton” who threw him and his friends around with his “scary magic, for no reason whatsoever.” Jeez, these local TV news crews sure work fast. Figures. Nothing too terribly newsworthy ever happens in your mountain college town. Residents are warned to be on the lookout for a tall skeleton monster and his human accomplice, described more or less to look like you. Great. Fantastic. You hear a bowl shatter on the wooden floor. Startled, you whip your head to the side to see a gaping and scared looking Papyrus staring at the TV screen. The bowl of spaghetti that was in his hands is now shattered and splattered across the floor.

     “Hey,” you say, concerned, as the shell-shocked looking skeleton has not taken his eyes off the TV, even as it cuts to commercial. He hasn’t even moved. “Hey,” you try again, now standing in front of him. You notice he is trembling. “Papyrus,” you say gently, touching his arm (humerus?). “Dude…friend, look at me.” He does, and you notice giant tears starting to form in his eye sockets. Aw man, you really don’t want to see this big softie so afraid and sad. “Don’t…don’t worry, we can fix this,” you stammer, reassuringly squeezing his humerus which is hard and slightly cool to the touch. “Nothing’s going to happen to you! I’ll think of something! We…we just have to…”

     Your thoughts are cut off by the front door suddenly slamming open, revealing a very pissed off looking stocky and short skeleton in a blue hoodie, black basketball shorts, and…slippers? There are no lights in his sockets save his left, which glows slightly blue. His grin looks almost like a grimace, his hands are shoved deep into his pockets, and he appears to be barely containing his rage. Well crap, you think again, for the fourth time that night.

 


	2. Impulse Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was originally written with she/her pronouns, and the author lywellen was extremely kind to let me make another version with the pronouns changed!
> 
> The original fic can be found right here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5712823/chapters/13161007

  “BROTHER!” Papyrus chokes, giant sloppy tears fall from his eye sockets. “I D-DIDN’T MEAN…I COULDN’T…HOW DID YOU KNOW TO GET HERE SO…” he stops as he notices you shiver. You slowly take your hand off Papyrus and stare wide-eyed at the short, menacing skeleton monster. He stands in the doorway, not taking his now completely darkened and narrowed sockets off of you.

     “… ** **g e t   o u t**** …” he growls, as he steps to the side to give you a path to the open front door. You gulp, suddenly terrified. You can almost feel the magic radiating off of him from across the room. You hesitantly make your way past the couch and towards the door, thinking maybe you can kind of quickly scoot past him and maybe he won’t hurt you if you just leave as quickly as possible. Just then, Papyrus’s bony, gloved hand grips your shoulder. The smaller skeleton, Sans you figure, shoots his eyes (which had now formed tiny light pupils) to his brother who has abruptly stood and stopped you in place.

     “SANS! WAIT!” he screeches, as he uses his other gloved fist to wipe the tears out of his sockets. “THIS HUMAN..HE RISKED HIS SAFETY EARLIER TONIGHT TO ASSIST ME! HE IS MY NEW, DEAR FRIEND AND YOU WILL NOT BE RUDE TO HIM!”

     “paps,” Sans says, his voice softening, sweat forming at his temples, “bro, we don’t have time for this. our neighbors. they know a couple’a skeletons live here. one of ‘em had to have watched that news report. we need to go. now.”

     “BUT WHERE WILL WE GO?” he starts to choke up again.

     “You can stay at my place,” you hear yourself open your mouth and announce, instantly wondering what craziness overtook your senses, for the second time (maybe third? you have lost count) that night. You don’t really know these monsters! Hell, first impression of the small one scares the bejeezus out of you. What the hell are you thinking? Sans must be wondering the same thing because he is now gaping and staring at you wide-eyed, pupils more dilated. Papyrus is also staring at you in shock.

     “Um…” you stammer, stepping slightly back away from Sans and towards Papyrus, “I live about an hour from here. Alone. No one would look for you guys…it would be temporary…until we figure this thing out…and I um, feel somewhat responsible for what happened…? ah, ha ha,” you laugh nervously, rambling, while scratching the back of your neck, the craziness of the night finally making you snap a bit.

     Sans eyes you incredulously for what seems like forever. He then relaxes his stance and shakes his head at the floor sighing. “fine. paps, get your things. quickly.” Papyrus jerks up straight and bolts for the bedroom, slamming the door open in his haste, leaving you and Sans to stand awkwardly in the hallway, him eyeing you again, and you staring at the ceiling, the walls, the floor, anywhere but him as you cross your arms self-consciously.

     “why?” he asks you quietly, as you hear Papyrus quickly throwing things around in the adjacent room. You look up to see his eye sockets narrowed at you, his pupils tiny pinpoints now. You idly wonder again how these skeleton brothers can be so expressive.

     “Um…because…i..it’s the right thing to do?” you supply nervously. He narrows his sockets further, his grin still a tight grimace, regarding you with what appears to be extreme suspicion.

     Papyrus suddenly clambers into the hallway, carrying a large duffel bag. “DONE!” he announces as the three of you quickly make to exit the apartment, Papyrus momentarily hesitating at the floor spaghetti until Sans gives him a look. Then, he trots after you all, and you all make your way down the chilly and now empty stairs to your car. Just as the three of you buckle up, Sans in the passenger seat and Papyrus scrunched in the back seat with his bag, you notice police lights approaching in the distance.

     “Shit!” you shout, fumbling your car into reverse and getting ready to peel out of the lot. Shockingly, Sans puts his cold, bony hand on yours on the gear shift, halting your movements.

     “hold on,” he says, now grinning darkly with his left eye glowing blue again, “i know a shortcut…”

     Suddenly you feel this sick, dizzy, vertigo feeling and things seem to warp around you. The next thing you know you are no longer in the apartment parking lot but are instead, parked in the shoulder of the freeway. Your ears are ringing. You blink once, twice, and stare dumbly at the traffic whizzing by you on the left side of the road. You open and close your mouth a few times before you can form a coherent word, let alone a sentence.

     “Wha..” you start when Papyrus interrupts and you quickly close your mouth again.

     “SANS! YOU NEED TO GIVE MORE WARNING BEFORE YOU GO AND DO THAT! I THINK YOU’VE BROKEN MY HUMAN FRIEND!”

     “ok,” he says calmly, seemingly smirking in your direction, his hands now confidently placed behind his skull.

     “I’M SERIOUS!”

     “ok. i’ll say somethin, next time the…oppor-tuna-ty presents itself.” He smirks as his beady eyes look in your direction.

     Why did he place so much emphasis on…wait…did he just make a fish pun about your gaping face? You open your mouth to comment but nope, still got nothing, and close it again. And then you realize you’ve done the thing again.

     “AND NO PUNS!!”

     “i’ll mullet over and get back to ya.”

     “SANS!”

     “i don’t know water you expect of..”

     “NYEEEEHHHH!!!’

     “Alright! Alright! Guys, stop!” you snap, the power of speech somehow returning to you, as you clench your eyes shut and rub your temples with your fingers. At least the ringing in your ears has stopped. You let out a shaky breath as you wait for a space to open up for you to merge into traffic. Sans snorts at you, hands still behind his head while Papyrus glares at his brother from the back seat.

     As it’s getting late and traffic is light, you’re soon able to merge onto the freeway. Luckily, by chance or whatever, you were teleported(?) to the correct side of the freeway heading the direction of where you live. Yeah, you drove an hour into the “town center” for school and work. Every day. When you say you live in a small town, you meant population wise. And when you say “town center,” you meant the place where buildings were slightly closer together, and contained your school, grocery store, a few other stores and random buildings, and the restaurant where you work part-time. Not what most would consider a “town center” in a large city but whatever. Most people in your town either lived in the crummy apartments in “town center” or lived in scattered houses miles outside. You are about 20 minutes into your hour-long drive, musing about your hometown, when you glance in your rearview mirror and notice Papyrus has fallen asleep. Sans glances back and notices too.

     “huh. i’m usually the one to fall asleep,” he chuckles. “welp. looks like it’s just you and me awake now, pal. so tell me,” he says, his pupils shrinking to nothing again in darkened sockets as he slowly turns his head towards you,  
“ ** **w h a t    t h e   h e l l   h a p p e n e d    w i t h    m y   b r o t h e r   t o n i g h t****  ?”

     Eep. You’ve gotta hand it to him. Sans has the creepy intimidation down pat. You gulp as you squeak out, “Y..you know…you really shouldn’t try to intimidate someone operating a fast-moving vehicle with both you and aforementioned brother inside.”

     The pinpricks of light return to his eyes then, but he just regards you silently, waiting for you to continue. You gulp again, and then nervously relay the story about how you came across his brother in the Food Camel Parking lot, the 4 jerks, the drive to the apartment, the spaghetti, the news report, and all the way up until Sans came home.

     “By the way,” you say, noting that Sans had said nothing the entire time you told the story. Though he did look away almost guiltily a few times as you relayed the part about rescuing Papyrus and subsequently keeping him company because he seemed scared. “How..um..how did you get to the apartment so friggin fast after the live news report? It couldn’t have been more than a minute…ah..wait..the teleport thing, right?”

     Sans fidgets with the shoulder strap of the seatbelt, which keeps riding up to his face. “we, um, have a tv at the bar where i work. i was takin’ a break. happen to see the news report and. yeah. i took a shortcut home.”

     “Ah,” you answer, and that’s it. The remainder of the ride is spent in awkward silence. Well. At least the shorter brother was no longer glaring holes into you. That made things slightly less awkward, right? Sure... Never mind your stupid self is on her way home with two complete strangers and no one there to call if they decide to murder you in your sleep. You idly wonder if anyone would even notice you missing. You are kind of a loner by nature. What had you been thinking? Well, even with your short time knowing him, you are pretty sure Papyrus wouldn’t hurt a fly. Hell, he hadn’t even really hurt those jerks that were going to do who knows what to him. Or you. You shudder to think about it. Sans looks over noticing, but you don’t look at him and he says nothing.

     Hm, Sans…you aren’t so sure about him. He obviously can use magic too and seems to radiate danger. Though it is also obvious he loves his dorky, naïve brother. That has to count for something, right? Maybe Sans had to become the scary sibling in order to protect his brother. Things on the surface probably haven’t been easy for them…especially being skeletons. You imagine a lot of people probably don’t like coming face to face with a walking, talking reminders of their own mortality.

     These thoughts carry you the rest of the way home and you soon find yourself pulling in front of your small lake house. It being winter, the surrounding lake houses, mostly vacation homes, are abandoned for the season. Your wooden wind chimes welcome you home as you, Sans, and a sleepy Papyrus (with the help of Sans) make your way in through the front door. As you enter the house and turn on the light, Papyrus rubs his eye sockets and stops leaning on his brother to stare wide-eyed at your quaint two-story home. It is decorated with bookshelves of schoolbooks and various sci-fi books, and a mishmash of science fiction posters, and anime wall scrolls. What can you say? You’re a nerd.

     “WOWIE, HUMAN!” Papyrus shrieks as he runs around exploring your home. “YOU HAVE…QUESTIONABLE TASTES! BUT FEAR NOT, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL NOT HOLD THAT AGAINST YOU!” He claps your shoulder, hard (you try not to grimace), as he tears off toward the kitchen and again squeals in delight as he finds it about three times the size of his own kitchen. Sans glances at you, probably to see if you care that his eccentric brother is now giddily and noisily tearing around your house, but you just look at him, smile a little, and shrug.

     “Well, I have two guest rooms upstairs to the left. There’s a bathroom in between them that connects the two rooms. My room and bathroom are to the right. Um, feel free to make yourselves at home…” you trail off.

     Sans, yet again, is cutting his eye sockets at you but while still maintaining a somewhat grin (hey, he is a skeleton too, you guess the perma-grin is a thing with them) as Papyrus continues to enthusiastically explore your cabinets in the kitchen.

     “you sure are a trusting one, huh?” he leans against the wall, hands back in his blue hoodie pockets. “thing is, buddy, i’m having a real hard time understanding something. how is it, you’d be willing to help a couple’a monsters? monsters you don’t even know. even let them into your home. seems kinda suspicious, doncha think?”

     Alright. Now he has pissed you off. You are going out of your way trying to be nice to he and his brother, and he is acting like a jerk! What the hell did he want you to say? You drop your smile to stare at him blankly. “Damn. You’ve caught me,” you deadpan. “I had this secret elaborate plan to overpower you both and all your magic with my strong human muscles,” you flex your thin arms half-heartedly for effect, “and jump your bones.”

     You realize you’ve caught him of guard as he sputters and gapes at you, cheekbones flushing blue slightly. A blush? Huh. Then you realize what you’ve just said (you were just trying to make a pun! You didn’t mean..ug!), and flush a little too, stuttering, “Uh…I..I…seriously dude,” you take a calming breath, the need for this angry skeleton to understand you winning out over your awkwardness, “I appreciate you are overprotective of your brother…but I mean it when I say, I just want to help! Your brother seems super cool and sweet and it makes me happy he wants to be my friend and I know what it’s like to be awkward and misunderstood,” you start rambling, nervously, continuing, “And yeah, ok, probably not the smartest idea to invite complete strangers into my home, but what the hell was I supposed to do? Things snowballed out of control so quickly! Should I have just ditched you guys to wander the streets? Should I have just let the poor guy get arrested and spend the night in jail after getting bullied by a bunch of jerks?” You motion towards the kitchen where you can now hear pots and pans banging around and water running. Is he cooking? This late? Whatever. “He didn’t do anything wrong and doesn’t deserve that. Ug, people can be so mean, and not just to monsters. No one deserves to have a bad time just… just for being…different...”

     You trail off, looking at your feet and frowning. Well, you feel like you may have slipped a bit in your monologue. Sans regards you quietly, understanding seeming to cross his features as he raises an eyebrow or eye bone or whatever at you. Well, isn’t that perfect? You might as well have just spouted, hey, as a fellow weirdo who’s also been bullied, I sympathize with your weirdo brother. Ugh.

     “A..anyway. It’s getting late and if you’re done trying to intimidate me, I’m heading up to my room,” you say too quickly, starting to inch your way to the stairs. “I’ve gotta study for my morning class tomorrow. Big test. Help yourselves to whatever. Seems your brother already has..ha ha. Nite.” You quickly pass Sans on your way to the steps before he can say anything else and call, “Goodnight Papyrus!” into the kitchen as you pass. He has pulled out some noodles and was preparing to make spaghetti. Again. Maybe that’s all these monsters eat?

     “B..BUT HUMAN!” he calls, scrambling after you as you make your way up the steps. “YOU HAVEN’T. EVEN. GOTTEN. TO TRY. ANY OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS’ FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI YET!”

     “Tomorrow, after class,” you promise as you give a small wave, enter your room, close the door, then lean your back against it collapsing to the ground. You take a shuddering breath as you bring your knees to your chest, fold your arms over them, and lean your forehead into your arms, shaking. Perfect. Now seemed like a perfect time for a panic attack. You’ve managed to invite 2 strange monsters into your house, are now probably wanted by the local law enforcement, managed to piss off one of said monsters, and then managed to sexually harass said pissed off monster. Then revealed to said monster that you are a complete spaz. Oh, and they both know magic. And, you remember yet again, you have no neighbors, no family, no real friends, and probably very few people around you for a few miles radius. And (you’re reminded as your stomach growls) you never ate dinner. About that impulse control.

 


	3. No One is There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was originally written with she/her pronouns, and the author lywellen was extremely kind to let me make another version with the pronouns changed!
> 
> The original fic can be found right here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5712823/chapters/13161007

You are awoken by two shrill beeps from your alarm clock before you groan and angrily drop a heavy hand on it to turn it off. Needless to say, you did not sleep well between being woken up shortly after going to bed by the smoke alarm (thanks to some burning spaghetti) and the loud snores coming through the walls later in the wee hours of the morning. Apparently Papyrus is even loud in his sleep and apparently the room walls are thinner than you remembered them being.

     You get up, take a shower, and do the rest of your morning routine. Checking the clock, you realize you still have a good hour to make breakfast and maybe leave some leftovers for your houseguests before starting your hour-long drive to class. Good thing, because you’re pretty friggin hungry.

     Judging by the snores coming from the room next to yours, Papyrus is still asleep. Judging by the shorter skeleton standing outside the left-most guest room, Sans is not. He’s still wearing the same outfit he wore last night.

     “Morning,” you offer hesitantly, blushing slightly as you remember the crazy harassment you sputtered at him last night.

     “morning... um, listen kid,” he says, as he glances to the ground, looking almost guilty, “last night... ah... i wasn’t exactly myself. you were right. i am overprotective of my bro. i was worried. i… apologize for actin like a jerk. i appreciate you letting us boneheads crash at your place, heh.” He rubs the back of his skull nervously. “look, serious isn’t really my thing. mind if we, ah, start over?” He looks up at you and smiles, what looks like an actual smile this time, while extending his left hand to you, “hi. i’m sans. sans the skeleton.”

     Well, this is a change. You return the smile, willing to give him another chance, and reach out to take his hand. “Nice to meet you Sans. I’m…” You’re cut off by a soft gust of air on your wrist as a loud, rubbery fart noise echoes in the hallway. It takes you a second to realize a small whoopee cushion is being depressed between both of your combined hands. You give your hands an incredulous look as your eyes shift to Sans. He is grinning widely. Your eyes meet his eye sockets. You both simultaneously burst into laughter.

     Just then, Papyrus’s room door swings open and he’s standing there with (what you’ve come to recognize in the skeleton brothers) a glare, wearing shorts, sneakers, and a short shirt with “Cool Dude” written across the front with sharpie marker. He still has his red scarf on with the whole ensemble. Somehow, you’re not even surprised by today’s choice in outfit. Though you are surprised that he either slept in that or somehow dressed in such a short amount of time.

     “SANS! THAT’S…COMPLETELY INFANTILE!” he shrieks as he puts the back of one gloved hand on his hip bone and narrows his eye sockets further at his brother.

     “nah, bro. that gag is always funny.”

     “It’s a real…poot!” You snicker as you wipe tears from your eyes. A weak pun to be sure, but Sans starts laughing again anyway.

     “UG. HUMAN WHILE I’M HAPPY YOU AND MY BROTHER NOW SEEM TO BE GETTING ALONG BETTER, PLEASE DO NOT GET DRAGGED DOWN TO HIS LEVEL OF PUNNERY!” Papyrus has now turned his frowny eyes on you too, though he seems to be trying very hard not to grin his mouth further.

     “bro,” sans says, still snickering, “you tryin to be… short with me?”

     Papyrus finally lets his grin widen, seemingly unable to help himself. “NOT BY A… LONG SHOT! HEH HEH HEH…NYEH. BUT SERIOUSLY GUYS, STOP.”

     Once you all settle down, the three of you make your way to your small kitchen table where, by some miracle, you’re able to convince Papyrus that YOU should be the one to cook them breakfast and no, it was not going to be spaghetti.

     Miraculously and thankfully, your kitchen is spotlessly clean and shows no signs of the burnt spaghetti from the night before. Papyrus watches in fascination as you quickly whip up a batch of pancakes for the three of you. Sans is eyeing the full syrup bottle sitting on the counter. As you separate the pancakes onto three separate plates and grab the… now half empty(?) syrup bottle, you shrug and drizzle syrup onto your pancakes and dig into them with gusto.

     Papyrus watches you and tentatively pours syrup on his own, cuts a small piece of one, chews it, and then happily digs into the rest. You wonder where the food goes when he eats it, as it just seems to disappear after he swallows it. You’re too shy to ask. You glance over at Sans who is watching you watch his brother eat and he winks at you, making you realize you were staring. You blush. You again concentrate on your own pancakes.

     “welp,” Sans says as he pushes his chair back from the table and his empty plate (when did he eat those?), “us boneheads‘ve got a skele-ton of work to do to figure out what our next move is. seems unlikely anyone cared enough to take down your license plate when you were makin’ your getaway the first time. considerin’ the local law enforcement has not shown up. yet.”

     You pause, frowning, syrup dripping off the bite of pancakes half way to your mouth. You hadn’t thought to worry about that. You look over warily at Sans who is sitting and staring at the table and just looks… tired. Had he been up all night? Maybe keeping a lookout? You feel guilty.

     “SAAANS!” Papyrus screeches, startling you yet again, “I DON’T WANT TO MOVE AGAIN! EVERY TIME WE DO WE JUST MOVE FURTHER. AND FURTHER. AWAY FROM OUR FRIENDS! AND TO MORE AND MORE DEPLORABLE LIVING ACCOMIDATIONS! THIS TIME LET ME FIX THIS MISTAKE. IF I JUST GO TALK NICELY TO THE HUMAN GUARDS, I’M SURE I CAN MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND THAT…”

     “no,” Sans cuts him off sharply. “they won’t listen, bro. y’know this. you’ve seen…”

     “I’VE BEFRIENDED TWO NICE HUMANS AND I KNOW THERE ARE MANY, MANY MORE, JUST WAITING TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME! WE CAN’T ALWAYS RUN FROM OUR PROBLEMS, BROTHER! THAT’S JUST LAZY! I WILL GO TALK TO THE HUMAN GUARDS AND THERE’S…”

     “Papyrus!” Sans stands, hands slammed down on the table, raising his voice. Papyrus flinches a little, and Sans sighs, rubbing a bony hand down the front of his face, making a slight scraping sound in the process. He says more calmly, “bro, you know I’ve always looked out for us. kept us safe. please listen to me when I say if you turn yourself in, you will have a bad time.”

     Papyrus now stands, hands on the table, facing his brother and now scowling his eye sockets angrily and raising his voice even further, “YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME! I’M NOT A CHILD ANYMORE SANS! YOU DON’T HAVE TO PROTECT ME ALL THE TIME! LET ME PROTECT YOU SOMETIMES! I THOUGHT WHEN WE GOT TO THE SURFACE YOU WOULD CHANGE YOUR MIND! BUT YOU HAVEN’T CHANGED AT ALL! YOU’VE STILL COMPLETELY GIVEN UP!” He angrily rubs at his eye sockets and seems embarrassed to see dark tear marks on his gloves. He quickly turns, literally catapulting over his chair and runs up the stairs and slams his room door.

     Sans stares sullenly after his brother and the silence is only broken by your fork noisily falling from your hand and clattering against the plate. Well, that happened. You look at each other in silence for a bit, as you stumble for something to say. From the look on Sans’ face and the way he has fallen back into his chair, slumping and now staring at nothing, you get the impression that the two brothers don’t fight much. You can’t think of anything to say. You again felt guilty as you realize you may have inadvertently caused all of this.

     “Uh… I think I’d better head to class,” you mumble as you stand and scooch your chair back with the loud squeak of the chair legs against the kitchen floor, breaking the silence yet again. You wince. Sans says nothing, and in fact, does not react at all. You hastily grab your book bag and make your way out to your car, locking the house door behind you. Crap, you hadn’t even asked them if they wanted to stay at your house or if they wanted to be driven elsewhere. You hadn’t even made them any food for later, though Papyrus does not seem shy when it comes to using your kitchen. You doubt, though, that the brothers will do much of anything while you’re gone for a few hours. You hope by the time you get back from class they will have at least talked to each other some.

     You barely even remember taking the test at the beginning of class. You hope you answered enough correctly for at least a “C”. Your mind was elsewhere the entire time. You again wonder if it is your fault that the two brothers have to hide from the cops and are fighting because of it. You wonder what would have happened if you had just turned a blind eye and walked by those jerks that were assaulting your now new friend. Would he have been better off? You worry about what Papyrus said, about Sans just giving up. Is that really the case?

     You glance to the left front row of your auditorium classroom, where you notice a cat-looking monster with bangs and longish hair frowning at her broken pencil. The guy sitting beside them notices and fishes one out of his book bag, handing it to the monster. They both smile at one another, and the monster continues taking notes as the guy does the same. You smile as you notice the simple act of kindness. Things like this remind you that maybe the world isn’t such a completely terrible place. Why does it seem sometimes that the only noticeable things that stand out are the bad things? Everyone, you included, only seems to focus on the few horrible actions and then miss the many simple acts of kindness and love in the world. Maybe Papyrus is right in his way of thinking. He had said he was happy about being attacked, just because it led him to make a new friend. He believes there are many good people in the world. You just had to be willing to stop avoiding them and give them the chance. You like his way of thinking.

     Soon, class is over and you gather your notes and bag and make your way to your car. Luckily it is slightly warmer today, but not so warm you don’t need a coat. More like crisp but you can’t see your breath in the air. You open your car door, throwing your bag in the passenger seat and turn the ignition… Your car makes some clicking noises but does not start. What? You try again … click … click … click … Nothing. Uuuugh. Not again! You close your eyes and bump your head against the steering wheel a few times. Great. There goes a good chunk of the vacation fund you had been saving up. You bang your head against the steering wheel again as you realize you neglected to exchange cell phone numbers with your house guests and cannot tell them you are coming home late. Some host you are.

     Several hours, a tow truck, and a hefty car repair bill later, you are on your way back to your house. It is nearing late afternoon/early evening. You hope the boys have made up by now or have at least eaten something. You grab a few burgers from the local fast-food joint in case they haven’t. You wonder if they will even still be there or if they have packed up and taken off like Sans wanted to do. You find yourself a little sad at the prospect. Hm, you really have become somewhat attached somewhat quickly.

     As you pull in front of your house, you notice the middle guest room window is wide open. You are slightly annoyed but considering the brothers’ last day or so, you figure the heating bill lecture can wait. You enter the house and notice Sans asleep on the couch. At least they are still here. You set your bag and the fast-food down on the now clean kitchen table and notice the plates and pans are clean and put away too. You hear a yawn from the direction of the couch and notice Sans has started to sit up.

     “Mornin again, or rather, evening,” you say as he rubs at his eye sockets.

     “what time’s it?” he says, stifling another yawn.

     “Uh… almost 5. Thanks for cleaning up after breakfast by the way!”

     “didn’t. paps came down briefly and cleaned up. cleaning takes too much effort,” he says as he shrugs and makes his way to the kitchen table and pulls out a chair.

     “Oh, Um... did you and your brother… talk..?” you stammer.

     Sans glances in the direction of the stairs, a forlorn expression briefly ghosting his face before he sits and puts his fake smile back in place and says, “nah. tibia honest, i was thinking of going up and trying a knock-knock joke. but i don’t think he woulda found it humerus.” You try to frown but end up smiling anyway. Bone puns now… And likely a no to your question.

     “So,” you say, changing the subject, and holding up the fast-food bag, “I got us all some burgers. I don’t know if you all have ever had them before but they’re kind of like…”

     “i know about burgers. my fast-food knowledge is… burger than you may think,” Sans smirks at you when you go to groan but end up snorting. “got any ketchup?”

     You grab him a bottle, trying not to react as Sans pops off the top and instead of dumping it on his burger, takes a long swig of it while watching you. Hm. You probably aren’t wrong in your suspicion earlier in the day about the syrup.

     “Well,” you say, purposefully looking away nonchalantly, “I’m gonna see if Papyrus wants to eat with us.”

     Grabbing one of the other burgers, you head towards the stairs. Sans looks at you hopefully as you make your way to the second floor. You knock quietly at Papyrus’s door.

     “Hey dude… I got us some burgers.” No answer. “Um… Figured we could eat these now and then later try some of your amazing friendship spaghetti. What do you say, friend?” Still no answer. A feeling of dread starts to settle in your stomach. Surely, he didn’t… You push open his door and are met by the crisp dusk air and empty room, the window and screen (you now notice) wide open. Your mouth feels dry as you find a note with a message scrawled in a garish font across the middle:

     “I WILL PROVE TO YOU THAT THERE IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD. DO NOT FOLLOW ME. –NYEHFULLY YOURS, PAPYRUS.”

     You suddenly sense someone just appear behind you and you manage not to flinch as the note is plucked from your hand by trembling phalanges.

     You hear a sharp intake of breath between gritted teeth over your shoulder, then you turn around and no one is there.

 


	4. ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was originally written with she/her pronouns, and the author lywellen was extremely kind to let me make another version with the pronouns changed!
> 
> The original fic can be found right here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5712823/chapters/13161007

A second after Sans disappears you hear him in the den, his finger bones tapping on his phone. You go to the railing, looking down where he’s standing in front of the sofa with his phone to his skull, whispering, “come on papyrus. pick up, pick up… damn it!” He throws the phone back on the couch and vanishes again.

     You then hear him outside calling for his brother. His tone is quickly becoming more and more panicked. Not good. You quickly rush down the stairs and outside to find him standing in the driveway, staring down the only road to the lake houses that winds off through the woods. His right eye socket is completely black and in his left is an iris flashing yellow and blue in rapid succession, casting an eerie glow on his face. There is sweat pouring down the sides of his skull and his breathing has become erratic. The very air seems to be crackling with magic. You tentatively approach him, as if approaching a wild animal because frankly, you don’t know what to expect. You say softly, “Sans, calm down. We’ll find him.”

     He continues to stare down the road, not even registering your presence. He has started to hyperventilate. He says, in a slightly manic voice between gasps of breath, “i did it again. i screwed up. it’s happening again. he’s gone. he’s gotten himself killed.  ** **h e’ s   r u n   o f f   a n d   g o t t e n   h i m s e l f   k i l l e d… a g a i n****! no chance of resets this time… fuck…  ** **FUCK****!”

     He roars and clutches at his skull with both hands. Suddenly a large, slightly translucent dragon skull materializes in the air floating just over his head, a blue ball of energy forming in its jaws. Then, its jaws separate sideways and from its depths a large blue beam fires across the woods with a loud crackle, completely disintegrating several trees in its wake and charring the ground around it. It’s still firing off as Sans screams again. Without thinking (and in retrospect, was probably one of the dumbest and most impulsive things you have ever done in your life), you launch yourself at Sans. You grab, and spin him around to face you as he still clutches his skull and stares wild-eyed at you with his one solid blue pupil. By some miracle, the summoned dragon skull thing vanishes and with it, the beam.

     At least now you have his attention. Not knowing what else to do and desperate to do something, slowly, giving him the chance to pull away if he wants to, you step forward and wrap him in a loose hug as he is still clutching at his skull.

     At first, he just stands there and you can see the glowing blue light from his pupil reflecting off your shoulder. He is still hyperventilating, but you are determined.

     Calmly, you say, “You are ok. Things are going to be fine. We will find Papyrus. Breathe.” Soon he lets his trembling hands start to slide from his skull back to his sides. He is shaking so violently you can hear his bones rattle under his coat. You tighten your hug slightly, and he now returns it, wrapping his arms around your ribs and pressing his face to your shoulder.

     “It’s going to be ok. Your brother is ok. We’re going to find him. You know this,” you repeat as his breathing starts to even out some. The blue starts to fade from his left socket as the lights return to both. You stay holding him like that for a few minutes, trying to calm him and wondering what the hell had set him off that bad. What had he been talking about? Killed again? Resets? He seems to be calming a bit more, as he stops trembling and starts to seem a little less tense.

     “You ok?” you say, both of you still hugging each other and he barks out a single muffled, scoff of a laugh into your shoulder.

     “Right,” you say. “Dumb question. So… um... I’m pretty sure I know where Papyrus went.”

     “he went to the police station,” Sans says hoarsely, reason seeming to have returned to him, as he lets go of you and steps back, wiping at his eyes with his sleeves and staring at the ground.

     “Right,” you say again, crossing your arms in front of you and looking away from the embarrassed skeleton, who is blushing blue slightly. Seems the moment has passed and the awkwardness has returned between the two of you.

     “right,” he parrots. Then, “uh… do me a favor, pal. when we find my brother.. ah… this… didn’t happen.”

     “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You smile gently, still not looking at him as you turn and make your way to your car. Luckily you still have your keys in your pocket. Go you!

     “... thanks,” he mumbles as he goes to take the passenger seat.

     You both are soon buckled in and start to make the hour long drive into town. Seems Sans does not want to talk and you are just fine with the silence yourself. You are worried though. Worried about Papyrus. Worried about Sans. What had happened to these two in the past? You briefly wonder if maybe Sans wanted to do the teleport thing with the car again to get to Papyrus sooner, but change your mind about asking as you glance at him out of the corner of your eye. He’s slumped and looks exhausted. His eyes are half closed, and it appears his hoodie and the seatbelt are having a battle to conquer his face. Despite your worry you still find yourself fighting a smirk as the thought crosses your mind about getting him a booster seat. As you near the halfway point of the drive, you have an important thought and decide to break the silence.

     “So, Sans…”

     “just sans, no so,” he mumbles into his hoodie tiredly.

     “Sans, I’m serious.”

     “i’m sans.”

     You sigh, continuing, “When we get to the station, I need you to be cool...”

     “but i’m sa..”

     You cut him off, “Ug! Seriously!” You can kind of see how Papyrus may get annoyed with him sometimes, “I mean, let me do the talking. Don’t go in there all dark sockets and all scowly, growly voice…”

     He starts chuckling at that. “heh heh. so that’s how i am, huh?”

     “Seriously. At worst, maybe he’s been arrested and is in a holding cell. Going in there all guns a blazing… Er, magic or whatever, isn’t gong to help his situation.”

     “at worst, if they’ve hurt my brother, they’re going to get dunked on,” he answers calmly.

     “No Sans. That won’t help.”

     “it will help me.”

     “It won’t help you or Papyrus. We’ve got to play this smart.”

     “look,” he says tiredly, “i’m not stupid. i’m not going to go in there and. just. level the place to the ground and destroy every human within a mile radius.”

     You give him a look.

     “yeah, i’m not joking. i could do that. easy peasy. but i know that’s not what paps or you would want. and i know when i’m outnumbered.” He puffs out a sigh and wrestles the shoulder strap out of his face and under his chin again, where it starts to make it’s slow upwards crawl back to his face. “i will try it your way.”

     “Promise?” you say. He seems to grimace (you can tell his expressions a lot better now). “Promise me, Sans.”

     “ug, i hate making promises... ah, fine. i promise. but on one condition.”

     You raise an eyebrow at him glancing sideways but still keeping your eye on the road.

     “if it looks like things are going bad. if we seem to be in danger, i’m taking a shortcut and getting all three of us out of there…” You nod. He frowns and adds, “and depending, i can’t promise i won’t go back and dunk on them later.”

     You don’t say anything to that last part, figuring you’ve won a major victory as it is. You’re kind of shocked and not unhappy he’s included you in his escape plans. Funny, just yesterday he seemed to hate your guts… That pun was unintentional.

 


	5. Laws and Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was originally written with she/her pronouns, and the author lywellen was extremely kind to let me make another version with the pronouns changed!
> 
> The original fic can be found right here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5712823/chapters/13161007

As you pull up to the small police station in “town center,” Sans seems to be becoming more and more tense. You notice deep shadows under his eye sockets, which barely have small pinpoints of light now. You pat his arm, giving him a concerned look, and he sighs and nods at you as you both unbuckle your seatbelts and exit the car.  
  
      Sans shoves his hands into his pockets and slumps after you, his face halfway buried in his hoodie. You all make your way into the warm reception area of the police station which is empty, save for a grumpy familiar face sitting behind the reception desk. Ah crap. You didn’t know she works here.

     “Well, well,” the older lady drawls. “Haven’t seen you since your granny died last year.” She pushes her spectacles up her nose and squints at Sans. “Hm, she’d be disappointed to see what kind of company you’re keeping nowadays.”

     “Courtney,” you nod, as politely as you can. Sans is just staring at her through narrowed sockets until she looks away and turns her attention back on you. “We are actually here looking for a friend. Is Papyrus here?”

     Courtney is regarding you with utter disdain. “Him? That creature is your friend too? Oh my, your poor grandmother must be turning in her grave! But yes, that brute you call Papyrus turned himself in little over an hour ago. They had to cart him to the back, screaming and hollering like he was…hey!”

     Sans has taken a step forward while gritting his teeth, his left eye socket flashing blue again. You put a hand on his shoulder and he looks up at you, as you shake your head at him. She’s not worth it. Not for him to get in trouble. You, on the other hand, have had it. Over the years, you have become used to your grandmother’s horrible friend belittling you. But you are one thing, and your friends are another. No one talks about your friends like that!

     “Listen here you… horrible old bag! I was going to try to be nice to you but I’m done! I’m so done tonight! Now you either do your friggin job and let me see my friend, his brother, or so help me…”

     Your tirade is interrupted by a chipper looking brunette officer with bobbed hair rounding the corner. She stops in her tracks, looking back and forth between the now gaping Courtney and shaking, red-faced you. She then notices the angry but purposefully quiet shorter skeleton just behind you. “Ah… you all must be with Papyrus.”

     You and Sans both drop your anger to exchange surprised and hopeful looks. The brunette, Officer M. Smith you see on her tag, gives Courtney a slightly annoyed look and says, “Didn’t Santos tell you to buzz him immediately if these two showed up?” Courtney, affronted, starts to open her mouth to answer when she’s interrupted by Sans.

     “is my brother here? is he ok?”

     The officer smiles, saying, “He’s just fine. Lively one that one. If you two would please follow me this way, we can take you to where he’s making his statements.”

     Making his statements? Not in a holding cell? You weren’t expecting this at all. Courtney mumbles something under her breath as you and Sans pass, but you ignore her.

     As you follow the woman down the hall to a small office, you can hear the telltale laugh of Papyrus’s “NYEH HEH HEH” coming through the door. She smiles and knocks softly. An older male voice answers, “Come in.”

     The door is opened to reveal Papyrus smiling and happily sipping from a styrofoam cup as he sits talking to an older officer with salt and pepper hair, dark skin, and a moustache. Papyrus turns, his eyes lighting up as he spots you.

     “HUMAN! YOU’RE HERE! YOU MUST NOT HAVE READ MY NOTE. BUT THAT’S OK! DID YOU KNOW THAT THE HUMAN GUARDS HAVE HOT COCOA WITH LITTLE MARSHMALLOWS AND… Oh.” His excitement drops a little as he sees his brother, “Hi…Sans.” He says in his ‘quiet’ voice as he looks down and fumbles with his cup a bit, bone brows furrowing. Sans just stares dumbfounded at his brother.

     The police officer senses the change in atmosphere, clears his throat, gets up, and says, “Hey, Smith. I need you to print out some forms for me.” Then to you all, “I’ll just give you guys a chance to chat a minute while I get some stuff together. Just crack the door when you’re ready.” He smiles at you as he passes and joins the lady officer in the hallway and closes the door behind him.

     The silence hangs heavy in the air while Sans stares at his brother and Papyrus sits and fiddles with his styrofoam cup. You decide to break the silence.

     “Papyrus…do you have any idea how worried your brother was? How worried I was? You can’t just up and leave a cryptic note and disappear like that!” Papyrus grimaces, and starts to open his mouth to say something when Sans finally speaks.

     “they didn’t hurt you, did they?”

     “No, I’m Ok…” he says in his ‘quiet’ voice. “But I Knew You Wouldn’t Let Me Do This And I Had To Prove To You That Most Humans Are Good And…”

     He’s cut off by Sans just walking over and wrapping his brother in a hug. Papyrus looks momentarily shocked but soon closes his eye sockets as tears start to form at the corners and he returns the hug. Sans’ shoulders shake as he chokes, “i’m sorry, brother. i’m so sorry…”

     Daggit, you’re starting to tear up too and decide that now’s probably a good time to give the brothers some space. You wipe at your eyes and quietly make your way outside the office and shut the door. The older officer, Officer ‘D. Santos’ you read on his nametag, is standing with Officer Smith at a copier quietly chatting. He nods at you when he sees you exit.

     “Is Mr. Papyrus ready to continue his statements?” he asks.

     You shake your head and answer, “Um…I think they still need some time to talk about… Stuff. Uh, is my friend under arrest? Am I?” You tuck some hair behind your ear nervously.

     Officer Santos smiles and says, “Usually I can’t discuss cases with non-family members. But seeing as you were involved, I can tell you that no. Neither one of you are ‘under arrest.’” He chuckles at your sigh of relief. “Actually, we had been hoping to talk to you all last night but seems we couldn’t get in touch. The local media, unfortunately, decided to make the most of a bad situation.” He looks displeased.

     “Surprise, surprise,” Officer Smith mumbles bitterly and Officer Santos shoots her a stern look and she winces, and then continues concentrating on the papers coming out of the copier.

     “Anyway,” he continues, “The security tape from the Food Camel clearly shows Papyrus being attacked by four drunk college kids. We have already taken statements from all four of them. Papyrus didn’t fight back, and even the magic he used was not of a violent nature and was clearly used in self-defense. If Papyrus decides to press charges, the four men who attacked him can be tried for physical assault.”

     Welp. You are dumbfounded to say the least. Surprisingly so. It must show on your face because Officer Santos is smiling again.

     He continues, “Your defense of Papyrus, on the other hand, is somewhat questionable since you approached the group of men and attacked them unprovoked.” Your stomach knots at this. “However, the boys involved have not pressed charges. Truthfully, after questioning, they’re pretty terrified they will have charges brought against them. I know why you did what you did, but you may want to rethink how you handle situations like this in the future. Maybe call us and let us do our jobs next time, eh?” he gives you a smile.

     Just then the door to the small office is thrust open and Papyrus is proudly standing there, hands on his hips, and beaming. Sans is standing behind him, hands in his pockets, his typical lazy grin back in place.

     “HUMANS!” he bellows, “I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM DONE CONVERSING WITH MY BROTHER AND AM READY FOR YOUR AUDIENCE!” Officer Smith jumps a bit, amused and wide-eyed and Officer Santos just chuckles and shakes his head. You just smile at the two brothers, happy that things seem cool between them again.

     The next hour is spent with Officer Santos recounting to Sans everything he’s told you and Sans does not seem surprised by any of it. Papyrus must have given him at least some of the details. Officer Santos plays the security tape for all of you and at one point you have to pointedly nudge Sans with your elbow when you notice his eye sockets darken again when he watches his brother’s attack. He glances at you when you make your awkward appearance in the security footage. You’re still kind of surprised you would shove around a bunch of jerks like that. Papyrus pats your shoulder proudly. You feel yourself blush.

     After everything, much to Sans’ outrage (though he just grits his teeth and keeps his silence), Papyrus will not press charges against his four attackers. He just wants them to know that he, in all his greatness, has spared them such a fate because he is such a cool dude (he gives a not so subtle nod to his shirt as he says this). Officer Santos smiles and manages not to laugh, but promises he will let them know he said that.

     Clearly Papyrus has won the officers over with his positive, dorky antics. As you are all getting ready to leave, much to Papyrus’s delight, Officer Smith gives him one of those fake plastic badges they give to kids and declares him a Junior Deputy. He actually squeals with excitement as he attaches it to the front of his shirt. You look over to Sans, slightly concerned that Papyrus may take it seriously and try to go police the town or something. Sans just smiles and shrugs, winking at you. You suppose you could just keep an eye on him. On them both for that matter. It’s not like the skelebros are becoming important to you or anything…b..baka.

     You know on the way out you have to pass Courtney, but don’t even care about that anymore. Courtney gives you an evil smirk, looking like she wants to stand up and say some parting words to you all. When she places her hands on the table to stand though, she falls back. She attempts to get up again, failing. “Wha... What the hell?” she screeches. “I’m stuck! Help! Those monsters have done something to my chair!”

     “Ms. Shanton! I will not have you being rude to the citizens of this town!” Officer Santos barks, glowering and walking over to Courtney’s chair. You, Papyrus, and Sans just keep walking, Papyrus looking questioningly at his brother. You notice Sans snort as he casually keeps walking toward the exit. His left hand is hanging by his side and has a faint blue glow. You try not to laugh, realizing what’s going on. As the door to the station closes behind you, you can here Officer Santos admonishing Courtney for her rudeness and assuring her that look, her chair is just fine.

     After leaving the police station, you decide to treat the brothers to some ice cream. This time Papyrus is sitting up front, his chest puffed out proudly with his new badge and babbling happily about how he had hitchhiked (both you and Sans wince at this but Papyrus doesn’t notice) all the way to the police station and had met many nice humans along the way. Seems neither one of you have the heart to rain on his happy parade. Especially after things turned out more or less exactly like he predicted. ‘He was lucky,’ says the cynical realist voice in your head. But was it only luck? What if  _choosing_  to believe the best of the world and  _choosing_  to be happy actually helps shape the reality around you? Perhaps Papyrus isn’t as clueless as you initially pegged him to be?

 

 


	6. End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was originally written with she/her pronouns, and the author lywellen was extremely kind to let me make another version with the pronouns changed!
> 
> The original fic can be found right here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5712823/chapters/13161007

  Time passes, ice creams are finished, and somehow Papyrus has run out of things to talk about a little over halfway through the journey. Sans has fallen asleep in the back of the car. Good. Poor guy needs to sleep. You realize, a little sadly, that the guys will likely need to be getting home either tonight or tomorrow. You are sure Sans has to get back to work at the bar at some point. You have tomorrow off, but the day after will be packed with classes and work. You again are amazed to realize how much you care about the skeleton brothers after just a short amount of time knowing them.

     “Hey,” Papyrus says in his ‘trying to be quiet’ voice. “I Can See That You Looked Out For My Brother Today, And I Want To Thank You. I Just Knew When I Met You, You Would Be An Amazing Friend! Almost As Amazing As Myself! Nyeh Heh. I’m Glad You Were Able To Become Friends With My Brother Too!” He smiles and pats your head affectionately, though rather roughly in his jubilation and you try not to flinch as you smile back. Somehow, Sans seems to have slept through all of this. You figure he’d have to have learned to sleep through his brother’s loudness over the years. You glance back at him, and notice he’s softly snoring. You suppose you two had become friends.

     As you near your house, Papyrus all of a sudden screeches, almost making you slam on your breaks. “HUMAN! LOOK. AT. THAT! WHAT HAPPENED THERE?”

     You glance to where he is pointing and notice the burnt out line of trees heading off into the woods, visible thanks to the full moon. Uh oh. You glance in your rearview mirror and notice Sans has woken up, and is giving you a nervous look back.

     “Um…tornado,” you supply at the same time Sans says, “lightning.”  
Papyrus looks back and forth between both of you in such quick succession you are afraid he may hurt his cervical vertebrae.

     “LIGHTNING TORNADO?” he narrows his eye sockets, glancing more slowly between the two of you shiftily as you look away and small beads of perspiration appear on San’s skull.

     “LIGHTNING TORNADO? REEEAALY?”

     You gulp, and get ready to make some other more believable excuse before Papyrus throws his arms up, almost hitting the roof of the car. “OH MY GOD!! NYEHHH!! NOT FAIR! I CAN’T BELIEVE I MISSED SUCH AN INTERESTING WEATHER PHENOMENON! AND YOU BOTH GOT TO SEE IT! TOGETHER! NO WONDER YOU ALL HAVE BECOME SUCH CLOSE FRIENDS!” He claps his gloved hand on your shoulder as you park in the driveway, and you try not to flinch again as he continues, “FEAR NOT HUMAN! FOR WE TOO SHALL STRENGTHEN OUR FRIENDSHIP BY GOING TO SEE COOL THINGS! MANY MANY COOL THINGS!”

     You laugh nervously as you exit the car, Papyrus has already jumped out to pose dramatically pointing at the sky and you glance in Sans’ direction. He is again scratching the back of his skull and giving you a guilty smile. You hate to lie, but figure in this case, it’s for the best. You also have the sneaking suspicion that Papyrus may actually have an idea of what happened, but is feigning ignorance for his brother’s sake. You start to wonder if perhaps Papyrus is acting more innocent and naïve than he truly is…a front, to make his brother happy. Just like his brother does with his fake smiles and constant jokes. These skeleton brothers, they really do have a lot in common.

     Not wanting your buddies to leave just yet, you may have mentioned being hungry and wanting to try this friendship spaghetti you kept hearing about, which Papyrus is MORE than willing to indulge you with! He insists on making it all himself since he is, in fact a master chef. Sans supplies ‘monster master chef’ which makes you snicker and Papyrus frown at him a bit. He shoos you both out of the kitchen so he can start his masterpiece. (‘monsterpiece’ Sans had supplied again which earned him a laugh from you and an annoyed ‘NYEH’ from his brother on the way out).

     You both sit on the sofa while Papyrus busily and noisily prepares whatever pasta thing he is making. You turn on the TV but neither one of you are really watching it. You look over and noticed Sans is staring at your coffee table, his pupils small circles and eyebrow bones slightly furrowed. You nudged him with your elbow.

     “You alright?” you ask.

     He gives you one of his lazy, fake smiles. “yeah. just thinkin.”

     “Wanna talk about it?”

     “…nah.”

     “Ok…”

     You turn your attention back to the TV, barely paying attention as some robot is giving a cooking demonstration on how to make some sort of quiche.

     “Um…are…you all staying the night again?” you ask, trying to play it cool like you are just asking casually and definitely not hoping they’re staying again.

     “do you want us to leave?” he says, searching your face.

     “…Nah,” you say, realizing you’ve accidentally parroted his way of talking.

     “ok.”

     “Ok.”

     Luckily, the awkward conversation is spectacularly disrupted by Papyrus literally leaping into the room, barely managing not to spill the 3 bowls of pasta he’s holding. He sets one on the coffee table in front of each of you with a flurry, forks included, and one on the other side facing you as he plops down cross-legged on the floor. You twirl your pasta on your fork, frowning as you notice…are those gummy bears? You feel Sans’ bony elbow nudge you as you look up and notice Papyrus is intently studying your reactions to his cooking. You quickly school your face and take a bite. The taste truly is…indescribable…but edible. You force a smile, saying, “Mmm!” as you quickly swallow it. Papyrus is grinning happily at you. Sans snorts and you discreetly elbow him back and shoot him a glare as Papyrus turns his attention to eating his own pasta.

     You do a double take as your eye catches Sans’ empty bowl and he winks at you, grinning. You really wonder how he does that and wonder if he actually ate it. You keep your fake smile plastered on your face and give approving nods as you concentrate on eating every bite of the concoction without making a face. You kind of wish you knew how Sans did his trick of making food disappear so quickly. Papyrus’ happy glances as you eat though…they fill you with determination to finish the meal.

     After dinner, Papyrus insists on being tucked in and read his bedtime story by his brother. He insists you join them. You feel like you’re intruding but Papyrus looks at you so expectantly, with sparkles in his eye sockets as he kicks his feet under the covers. You sigh and settle on the other side of Sans, trying not to laugh as Sans makes different weird voices for every character. He really is a good brother. Papyrus is delighted but his enthusiasm wanes as he quickly drifts to sleep when Sans is about half-way through the story. You wonder if he always falls asleep that fast. It’s a kid’s book, for crying out loud and he couldn’t have been reading it for more than like 3 minutes! But yup, he’s definitely asleep as his drooling (add that to the growing list of ‘surprise things your skeleton friends can do’) and loud snores confirm.

     You and Sans both make your way out of Papyrus’ room. You are about to head to your own room for the night, when you notice Sans pass his guest room and head back downstairs. You decide to stay up too, kind of hoping you can get him to talk about what’s been bugging him. You hope you can help him, too. Maybe make him realize that perhaps he can be happy in this world. That he shouldn’t give up. That’s what friends are for, right? You are determined. You seem to be brimming with it tonight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> editor's note: that was really cute and nice and i hope you guys enjoyed it! thanks again, lywellen!


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